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Here it is, graduation season in Montgomery County, a time of celebration, relief for some, and great expectations for all, as the graduates of the Class of 2011 boldly set out to make their way in the world.
How can you tell it’s graduation time in Montgomery County?
Forget the school calendar or the congratulatory signs in front of every local high school. All you have to do is watch for that long line of buses snaking their way out of town, headed south into the District of Columbia, from nearly all of Montgomery County’s 23 high schools, because almost none of them can hold their graduation ceremonies here in our own community.
Does anyone else find this ridiculous? In a county with our resources, and a population of nearly 1 million residents, whose brilliant idea was this?
Now I have nothing against DAR Constitution Hall, but why must so many of our kids, their parents, out-of-town relatives, school staff and other spectators all have to make that annual schlep into D.C.? Has anyone added up what this is costing us?
It’s not just the buses, or the logistics and wasted effort of moving everyone to a neighboring state in order to graduate (and yes, I consider D.C. a state). How much more revenue do we lose each year from local hotels and restaurants that would surely capture more graduation-related dining, catering and related business if the ceremonies were held here? When you include all the missed opportunities from not being able to attract any other large meetings or events here throughout the year, simply for lack of a large-enough venue, we are losing tens or even hundreds of millions a year. That’s big money that could be going into our schools.
If the problem truly is that we don’t have a big enough meeting space in the county, whose fault is that? I seem to remember this point being raised during the debate over the Bethesda North Conference Center, which certainly could have been built to accommodate a graduation ceremony. But by the time our ubiquitous "NIMBY chorus" got through with it, we ended up with a conference center half the size it should have been (and we’ll probably spend twice as much expanding it later, just for kicks).
We missed another opportunity when former County Councilman Mike Knapp floated the idea of a new sports arena for major league soccer games, concerts and other large-scale events. Visionary? Perhaps, and it could have hosted our graduation ceremonies too. But someone somewhere objected, so the idea was immediately abandoned in typical Montgomery County fashion.
To me, the biggest loss from all this is purely psychological: It’s just plain embarrassing.
Maybe we can do something about this by the time my youngest graduates from high school (with the Class of 2018). In the meantime, congratulations to this year’s graduates. Maybe it’s time Montgomery County graduated too, and took its rightful place in the world.
Patrick McCann
6:48 am on Sunday, June 12, 2011
The author is absolutely correct. As a teacher in MCPS, I am appalled at the money spent on havng these ceremonies at DAR constitution hall. There is an additional cost for buses that bring the staff down to
attend the events. Seems to me, the kids (and their parents) would just as soon have the event at their school, instead of having to trek down to DC in rush hour to attend.
K Montgomery
7:49 am on Sunday, June 12, 2011
I couldn't agree more. My daughter's graduation was in the evening. We left in plenty of time and landed in predictable gridlock. By the time we arrived we were all stressed about being late. Then, there was parking. My husband dropped us off while he searched---but the DAR ushers wouldn't let us save him a seat. When it was over, instead of capturing beautiful family photos in front of an academic institution, we were all jammed on C street---with buses and water vendors in the background. The kids deserve better. Parents too. Not to mention all the grandparents who were drained by the impossible logistics. Give me a high school football field any day.
Garine Isassi
8:02 am on Sunday, June 12, 2011
Why don't they have the grad ceremonies inside the high schools or the outdoor school stadiums? Who do we petition for a change? The school board? What are the benefits of doing the ceremonies in DC anyway?
andrew einsmann
8:42 am on Sunday, June 26, 2011
I could not agree more with this comment. There was not problem when I graduated in the football field at my high school. I am sure there is enough space at all the high school stadiums...
Brian
8:36 am on Sunday, June 12, 2011
At what point did Montgomery County become a suburb with people who are unwilling to go into the *big, crowded city* 10 miles down the road? Yes, in MoCo, we have grocery stores, strip centers, retail shops and parks, but we don't have a venue large enough to accommodate graduation crowds, unless you want each family limited to three tickets for a ceremony at Strathmore, which seats only 2,000 (more than most high school auditoriums). Unless you want your family sitting on a football field in the rain, and paying to rent decent sound systems, chairs and everything else necessary to stage that type of event at each high school, suck it up and go to Constitution Hall. It's a beautiful, historic place, and I graduated there myself nearly 20 years ago. We don't need an enormous venue in Montgomery, paid for with taxpayer money that could be better spent on...hmmm...educating our students.
Instead, we can all leave a bit early and shell out the $15 to park downtown or take Metro.
Garine Isassi
6:20 pm on Sunday, June 12, 2011
by the way, this has nothing to do with being unwilling to go into the "big, crowded city." DC has everything and tons of Montgomery County people go there everyday for work, theater, classes, shopping, etc. We are not afraid of the big bad city. It's just inconvenient and, from the comments here, seems expensive.
cathy keech
8:50 am on Sunday, June 12, 2011
we do have a space big enough in Maryland at least. Comcast Center. I graduated from Mont. Blair many years ago and we went to Cole Field House. I have had three graduations from MCPS. The first went to a big church near Fed Ex field. Most loved it but a few had issues. Great parking and less money. The next graduated from Strathmore - beautiful but no longer an option for PHS due to size. Finally DAR - the worst!! No parking, No pictures, No dinner - less family. So glad I don't have to do that again.
andrew einsmann
8:44 am on Sunday, June 26, 2011
Good point counld we not use the indoor space at the Covenant Life Center on Muncaster Mill Road? That place is huge...
Heather
9:18 am on Sunday, June 12, 2011
Isn't this a size issue? Take each graduate, add parents, siblings, other family members... You quickly run out of space in the school auditorium. Having graduation outside isn't feasible, if the weather changes you're screwed.
The Comcast Center idea is viable but I believe that some PG Co schools use it. It may be booked, thus not available for use by Moco (but I'm just guessing). I honestly don't see the traffic being any better with a graduation at Comcast Center. Have you ever been to a game there during rush hour? It's not pleasant.
Couldn't we put money back into Moco and just book the "new" convention center in North Bethesda? I'm sure it's booked far in advance for vendors, but I can't imagine the county couldn't work something out with the facility to block off a chunk of time for high school graduations. It would be county money going back into county business.
But the situation is a little crazy. I can't say the people running the show (and those before them) are streamlining and making things easier for the thousands of family members that have to trek to DC (I know, sooooo far), but they must be doing it this way for a reason since they've been doing t for 20+ years.
Theresa Defino
10:27 am on Sunday, June 12, 2011
Thank you, Brian. Couldn't have said it better. There are many in MD who NEVER go to DC and are unconnected with the nation's capital, which is a damn shame. Where to house MoCo graduations has been explored and the cost is too great to build some indoor facility large enough, central enough, to house high school graduations. DAR is a beautiful, historic place. I already saw one of my children graduate from there and will see two next year.
Some people just need something to complain about. No matter where graduation is held, there will always be unhappy people.
sherlene lucas
10:37 am on Sunday, June 12, 2011
I appreciate you Brian speaking up regarding this concern as well as well as some background information as to why the train never took off from the station. We owe this to our students, families and schools to move forward. Sometimes you got to leave part of your family behind to get the students there on time and parking, paying $20 - $25 for parking. It does give us something to re-think!
Heather Waffles
12:42 pm on Sunday, June 12, 2011
I graduated on the football field of Damascus High School in 1998. I'm sure we can all think up bigger problems to worry about.
Alison
1:55 pm on Sunday, June 12, 2011
I'm with Heather - not from MoCo myself, but we too graduated on the high school football field, and yes, the grandparents sat in the bleachers. In case of rain, we went to the gym - which was hot and crowded. Really are families in MoCo too special to do that?
Joan
1:58 pm on Sunday, June 12, 2011
Those individuals who turn up their noses at those who prefer not to venture into DC for a graduation event might have some compassion on the stressed family unit, and those trying to enjoy what might be the first high school graduation in the family's history. Other graduates must go alone because both parents must work and are not allowed to take days off - imagine that in Montgomery County! - because of the socioeconomic status of their jobs. These young people might find it much easier and less intimidating to get to a local venue.
A worse attitude than NIMBY is one of IINDFMTTBFTROY- If It's Not Difficult For Me, Then Too Bad For The Rest Of You.
Our meager football stadium with a backup rain date worked fine for my graduation from a high school that was in the top ten in the country. It could even work for high and mighty Montgomery County.
Sharon Adams
11:48 am on Monday, June 13, 2011
Joan, not 'all' in Montgomery County are high and mighty, believe me! LOL! I felt need to address 'profiling'! Just because our State & Local representatives 'live' here doesn't mean the rest of us live their life style. As a matter of fact, we pay the consequences of them residing in Montgomery County. With that said (and false air of socalled MC snobbery), I agree entirely with what you have just said. I am a native born Montgomery County resident & Federal retiree'. I am familiar, quite familiar, with MC and where priorities are set...often times not in the best interest of ALL we struggling families and taxpayers. I traveled as well to my daughter's graduation @ DAR 'decades ago' (oh dear! MAXINE here is getting old! LOL!) and it was a 'royal pain in my derriere'!
Joan
9:13 pm on Monday, June 13, 2011
Yes, Sharon, I agree with you. My "high and mighty" comment was referring not to the residents of the county (as a whole), but instead to those who make the decisions as to what is appropriate for us. Ahem. Such as what is important in terms of priorities, spending policies, etc. in the education budget, which is determined primarily by our Superintendent. As someone mentioned, I would like to see this money spent on needed programs for education instead of chartering buses and renting extravagant halls.
Scott
3:22 pm on Sunday, June 12, 2011
This is also difficult from a money perspective - as a high school class sponsor we have to obviously do our class fundraising for prom and banquet functions, but we are paying $12,000 for our graduation at DAR which is in addition to the money MCPS pays as a baseline for each school. From all communication I have had - we of course have the option of choosing Comcast like all other MCPS schools but it is almost double the cost - and another $12-13k in fundraising seems a little unreasonable to me. After doing 6 graduations at DAR now I do have to say that it is nice to have our location every year that knows the drill and is used to the MCPS end of year routine.
Joan
3:54 pm on Sunday, June 12, 2011
There is something to be said for that, Scott, and I agree we should not be paying more! But from what you say, for the $276,ooo DAR gets directly from the 23 MoCo high schools themselves, plus whatever MCPS pays as a baseline for each school, DAR had better know the drill and do a good job with the MCPS routine! It is, after all, a professional site. They are also raking it in from other counties surrounding the District. Unfortunately we are paying for this overpriced Washington "central location" which is not convenient for anyone. And I maintain we are not so "uptown" that we can't have a hometown graduation as generations past managed to do. I don't believe class size is the issue - I think it is ego in the central office.
Garine Isassi
6:10 pm on Sunday, June 12, 2011
$12,000 for graduation in DC?? Surely a home school stadium graduation would cost one third of that! How about we suck it up in terms of rain dates and outdoor seating and direct that money to the budget cuts that are stripping our schools of counselors, musci programs, and special ed.
jag
6:16 pm on Sunday, June 12, 2011
My sister's graduation was at Strathmore Music Hall - isn't that a viable, in county site for large high school graduations?
KatieSilverSpring
7:37 am on Monday, June 13, 2011
Only once here was it mentioned to use the Soccerplex in Germantown. What is the problem with doing MCPS graduation there?
Duane Turner
9:46 am on Monday, June 13, 2011
Richard, I hear your concerns, but stop whining. The graduation is only a one day affair for crying out loud and as regards taking business away from MoCo, well you can still opt to take lodging in MoCo and, how many MoCo residents communte in and out of the District everyday and don't contribute to the maintenace of the city's infrastructure? Please gripe about something different next year.
Sherry Turner
10:33 am on Monday, June 13, 2011
Right on! Keep whinning. I think the last high school experience should be about your neighborhood. I clearly remember mine on the football field of my high school in NJ which was an envirnonment filled with memories of the previous years. My son graduated from Whitman 11 years ago at DAR Constitution Hall and it left me cold. It was not a warm and familiar place filled with memories as the graduation site should be.
Heather
10:45 am on Monday, June 13, 2011
You guys, Montgomery County is not the only local suburb using DAR for graduations. ALL of the local counties use DAR. I graduated from WT Woodson & we used the field, as the poster who used the stadium in Damascus, however I'm going to bet it was a small graduating class. The size of the classes at Damascus vs a more urban school such as Rockville or BCC can be HUNDREDS of students.
I really don't have an answer or know the reason the school system goes into DC for use of DAR, but it is possible that they've done the research, perhaps it IS the cheaper option. Perhaps they ran the numbers and the football stadiums or gymnasiums just do not have the capacity to hold the number of people attending these graduations. I am going to venture to say there are more factors to be taken into consideration that we can even touch on here, and that the people making the decisions know what they are doing.
Have you ever been to a varisty football game? I know at my son's HS they run out of parking. People are in the grass, standing, on the tennis courts, lining the main road to watch the game. It gets to be a danger and safety hazard. The school cannot allow something like that to happen at a graduation nor can they *really* have a perfect plan in place for bad weather. Can they really move all of the people inside on a moment's notice and pull of graduation without a hitch?
I think everyone makes valid points, but I bet graduation is where it is based on 30 years on trial and error.
Sharon Adams
9:30 pm on Monday, June 13, 2011
Well articulated, Joan. I wholeheartedly agree with you.
Lynn Rabenhorst
10:17 pm on Monday, June 13, 2011
Not enough people are asking - what's wrong with using the Germantown Soccerplex? Have you ever been to a home show there - it's huge! I'm from the high school football-field-graduation-generation, but I do understand the desire to schedule a graduation and not have to dink around with rain dates, thus the desire to have the ceremony indoors. I've heard the stories about my husband's niece and nephew's graduations at DAR - they may run smoothly as DAR has the experience, but the family isn't excited about going back for there for the youngest's graduation. To travel into the district, deal w/traffic and parking, stress on whether traffic will cooperate - is that really what the graduates and their families need to deal with on a night they should be celebrating? There may be "many in MD who NEVER go to DC and are unconnected with the nation's capital, which is a damn shame.... DAR is a beautiful, historic place...." but graduation is not a time to explore and appreciate the city - it's a time to focus on the graduate and celebrate THEIR accomplishment. It IS a shame that so many are unconnected w/the nation's capital, but a weeknight evening is not the time to explore and connect in a city of commuters and traffic.
Maybe it's an up-county thing, but I'd rather stay "up-county" than explore the DC parking situation on the evening of my child's high school graduation.... I can only hope, and work towards, a better solution than DAR before my oldest graduates in 2017!
Scott
10:36 pm on Monday, June 13, 2011
I know it isn't graduation related, but what I found to be the other issue is-- were schools... I know businesses need to make their money, but a little help maybe. We do so many events- the high schools in MoCo and its getting tougher every year to find venues to accommodate the growing graduation class size. For example, this year we held our senior banquet at a Bethesda Hotel ballroom... roughly $20,000 for the evening - no problem, with all the great fundraising, each student only needed to pay $10 for a ticket-- well next year we can't fit in that ballroom because we have another 75 members in the Class of 2012... so now we looked for options for next year - so we got a quote from the Bethesda ballroom and the North Bethesda Marriott because we wanted to compare prices with the extra students factored in-- North Bethesda wanted $45,000 for the same event - $20,000 more than the ballroom wanted. Did our tax dollars help pay for some of these places....
lilkunta
5:24 am on Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Why not go back to Jericho City of Praise or Showplace Arena. Both are in PG with FREE ample parking.
David Heyman
4:34 pm on Tuesday, June 14, 2011
We've been through the Jericho church issue. "Jesus is Lord" all over the inside and outside of the building is inappropriate for a public school graduation.
lilkunta
6:52 pm on Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Daivd: What Jericho church issue? All religious references inside were covered.
So what was inappropriate?
Just last week Us 5th Circuit Court ruled [[ http://www.ennisdailynews.com/?p=11844 ]that Class Valecdictorians MAY pray for herself & her classmates & that in doing so no 1's rights are infringed.
Jericho was reasonably priced & has ample parking; & is on the bus line! No dc traffic or parking nightmare to deal with.
What is the cost for DAR? I know UMCP Comcast Ctr is 25,000 !
jam
7:33 pm on Tuesday, June 14, 2011
likunta: There is a big difference between a court holding that there is no constitutional violation when an individual valedictorian uses the opportunity given her to speak by opting to lead a prayer and the idea that the school board should choose to hold graduation in a space designed and used for sectarian worship. Besides, David did not say holding graduation at Jericho Church would be illegal -- he said it would be inappropriate. There's a world of difference, and it simply isn't the case that anything that passes legal muster is therefore a good idea.
lilkunta
1:07 pm on Thursday, June 16, 2011
jam: Did you read wht I wrote? I didnt say illegal, I said inappropriate.
WHAT IS INAPPROPRIATE?
Schools are used on fri/sat/sun by jewish/7th day adventists/christians/muslims; this is a space(school) deisgned for education not worship yet the schools have been and will continue to rent
their buildings out to them.
Jericho was reasonable in price and so large that tickets were not needed. Ample FREE parking . No DC traffic. Graduations need to return there!
Lynn Rabenhorst
9:33 am on Tuesday, June 14, 2011
I'm new to all of this - my oldest is only in 6th grade - so could someone please tell me - do all of the MC high schools hold their graduation ceremonies at DAR? Is there some reason they can't be held in a location more convenient to each area of the county? No offense, PG is nice, but again - not somewhere I want to travel to during rush hour from Montgomery Village..... MCPS covers a lot of territory - what's convenient for those of us upcounty isn't necessarily going to satisfy families in Silver Spring or Wheaton. Why are we all being forced to one location? There's something to be said for holding graduation ceremonies on the football field.....
Dona
6:51 am on Wednesday, June 15, 2011
I love going to graduations at DAR. It is a beautiful venue and I felt honored to have the chance to see my my children graduate there. Our guests loved it too.
Bobbi Parra
6:17 am on Thursday, June 16, 2011
MoCo needs a hometown venue to keep our money here. I graduated in the auditorium at G'burg HS because it rained. It was no big deal. We are not "bitchin" nor are we unwilling to go to the "big city". DAR is beautiful - but when you have elderly grandparents, heat, and rush hour - a hometown solution is more reasonable - and it keeps our money with us! DC doesn't just get DAR's fees - they get our lunch/dinner revenue, too. Strathmore is too small for most MCPS schools - so why not use what we have (the convention center, maybe soccerplex?) or build what we need (Montgomery College?????) Besides a great option for graduations - there are LOTS of uses ie think REVENUE!
jnrentz1
9:16 am on Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Those who graduate from Montgomery County Schools should graduate in Montgomery County.
Bob Hydorn
10:25 am on Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Has anyone here even thought about doing what Montgomery College does? They hold it rain or shine in a giant tent on the atheltc field. It has worked great for several years.
Sharon Adams
10:39 am on Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Seems to me and from old June 2011 comments posted that we here in Montgomery County have this same 'conversation' every year! County reps and school officials sure don't appear to be the ones reading these comments...another issue just bouncing off walls and deaf ears. May as well be prepared to watch those 'bus caravans' in May 2012!